How to Slim Down Muscular Thighs

By
Crystal Fenton
Updated August 22, 2019

Reviewed by
Lisa Maloney

About the Reviewer:

Lisa Maloney

Lisa holds a personal trainer certification through the University of Alaska Anchorage, with more than 4,000 hours of hands-on experience working with a variety of client needs, from sports teams to post-rehab populations and weight loss, in one-on-one, small group and large group settings.

About the Author:

Crystal Fenton

The powerful muscles of the legs can sometimes translate to larger, more muscular thighs than one would like. Fortunately, changing the way in which you exercise can help you take your thighs from muscular to skinny.

Increase your cardio if you want to lose some weight.
(Image: Maridav/iStock/GettyImages)

Tip

Going from muscular to skinny thighs requires striking the right balance between exercising your legs enough to maintain their health, while being mindful to limit higher-intensity activities that may cause muscle gain.

Slim Thighs Training Swaps

To go from muscular to skinny thighs, you'll likely want to limit the amount of intense workouts focused on the lower body, specifically the thighs. This doesn't mean giving up leg exercises all together: Do enough full-body training to maintain your health, but don't place extra effort on your thigh muscles.

Instead, you may opt to shift intense workouts, specifically strength-training, to focus on other areas of the body rather than the thighs. Another alternative is to exercise the lower body with activities that focus on lengthening muscles, ligaments and other soft tissue, while improving endurance and flexibility, such as yoga or Pilates. It's worth noting that response to strength-training varies by individual so it may take trial and error to find the right balance for you when it comes to workouts.

Health Benefits of Exercise

There are two major muscle groups located in the thighs. The quadriceps are located in the front of the thighs, while the hamstrings are found in the back of the thighs. Rather than try to slim thighs quickly, be realistic and set attainable goals, such as a consistent routine of regular exercise that works on all areas of the body. Mixing up your workouts by challenging other groups of muscles with higher intensity activities can also help to prevent muscle mass in the thighs from increasing.

Adults need at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity and should perform muscle-strengthening exercises on 2 or more days each week, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Exercise is essential to staying healthy in both body and mind, reducing the risk of disease, boosting cognitive function, increasing metabolism, supporting bone and muscle function, providing endorphins and more. This extends to why you should care about the overall health and not just the size of your thighs. The legs and thigh muscles are necessary to provide the support and stability needed to maintain the body's upright, vertical position.

For those worried about their muscular thighs, there's a chance there may be extra body fat in the thighs as well. If that's the case, adding more cardio exercise, which burns the calories needed to lose weight, can help, as can eating a balanced, healthy diet. Even minimal weight loss of 5-10 percent can have significant health benefits, according to the Obesity Action Coalition. No matter where in the body these inches are shed, losing excess body fat is heart healthy.

Muscular to Skinny Without Weights

Finally, in an April 2019 study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, researchers found that some individuals showed greater muscle mass after high-intensity resistance training, while others did not. This suggests that strength and hypertrophy adaptations can vary widely from one individual to another.

The takeaway: It may take some time and experimentation with exercise and adjustments in the manner in which you train before you see results of slimmer thigh muscles.